The Australian government is standing by its aid program in East Timor after a scathing assessment of the performance of donors by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Dessy Sagita – A lack of commitment by regional governments has hampered efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare said on Thur

Febriamy Hutapea – The House of Representatives on Monday opened its first session of the year by calling on the government to pay closer attention to Papua, which lags far behind other

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The government has been urged to make a "breakthrough" in its children- and health-related programs, with Indonesia's infant mortality rate currently among the

Dili – Tiny East Timor reached a new low in the UN's annual measurement of human development, falling even further down the list of 182 countries measured for overall quality of life.

Timika, Papua – Vice President-elect Boediono, making his first ever visit to troubled Papua, said here on Monday that development in the region would be given special attention by the

Anita Rachman – The government is likely to fall short of its mark in efforts to reduce the illiteracy rate to 5 percent by the end of the year – and officials are blaming a lack of mot

Jakarta – Indonesia's infant and child mortality rates have declined, but maternal mortality rates remain "among the highest in East Asia", a World Bank report said.

Jakarta – The government admitted Wednesday that water services across the archipelago are unlikely to meet the 2015 target set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – The success of a water supply management scheme does not depend on whether it is privatized, but on its operator's corporate performance, a research publicati

Anita Rachman – Nine years after Indonesia took up the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, the country still had a long way to go in proving its commitment to achievi

Banda Aceh – Achievements toward the Millennium Development Goals in Aceh remain far from the expected target of 2015, national program coordinator Ivan A. Hadar said Monday.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Manokwari – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited West Papua on Thursday, pouring hundreds of billion of rupiah in projects around the province.

Martin Lundqvist, Hong Kong, China – "Witch hunting" has historically been, and still is, a common phenomenon in Papua among the indigenous people.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Indonesia is unlikely to meet its target for access to drinking water set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because of contaminated groundwater in citi

Ni Komang Erviani, Contributor, Denpasar – As of August this year up to 10.16 million or 6.22 percent of the Indonesian population aged over 15 years old are still illiterate despite th

Denpasar – In the campaign to eradicate illiteracy, women need special priority because the illiteracy rate among women is more than twice as high as men.

Desy Nurhayati – Wide social and economic disparities between regions across Indonesia remains a serious hindrance to development, a new report on regional development for the 2004-2007

Owais Parray, Jakarta – Last November, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released its 2007/8 Global Human Development Report.

Markus Makur, Timika – Papua province's rich natural resources have had no impact on life in the remote villages of Asmat and East Mimika Jauh, in Mimika regency.

Jakarta – Indonesia needs to speed up development in the eastern area of Papua, a remote part the country where a low-level armed rebellion has simmered for decades, President Susilo Ba

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government will speed up development in the provinces of Papua and West Papua after an assessment found both still lacking in terms of infrastructure and eco

Jambi – Traditional communities and farmers in Indonesia, particularly in Jambi province, Sumatra, are still falling victim to disadvantageous government policies and as a consequence b

Jakarta – The government is being urged to pay more attention to the country's large working-age population, the result of the Soeharto-era family planning program that reduced the nati

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – More Indonesians say they are economically worse off compared to 12 months ago and most cite the increased costs of basic goods and travel expenses a

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – With the prices of basic needs continuing to soar, life is tough for Sugeng Supriadi.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The North Sumatra provincial administration has seen the number of people living below the poverty line in the province increase progressively from 14.93 percen

Jakarta – Nearly 50 percent of Indonesia's population still lives on less than two dollars a day despite progress in recovering from the economic crisis of 1998 which plunged millions o

Morgan Mellish – On the main road into Jayapura, a large two-storey building is being erected – the bureaucrats of Papua's provincial capital are upgrading themselves to better lodgings

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Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The World Bank and IMF should review their financial aid to Indonesia to show a serious commitment to fighting corruption and poverty; otherwise they must

Andi Haswidi, Batam – Some 500 activists gathering in Batam grouped under the International Peoples Forum called Monday on all nations to hold international financial institutions (IFIs

Fadli, Batam – Activists have criticized the lack of transparency in World Bank and IMF policy-making and accused the Singaporean government of violating human rights by preventing acti

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Recent heated debates about misleading poverty statistics may finally be settled, with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reporting that the country's poor popu

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – "Helping those who help themselves" could describe the government's latest approach to tackling the problems of poverty and unemployment, with community developm

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Andy Mukherjee – In Siti Maimunah's Jakarta office, on the wall behind her spartan desk, hangs a placard.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – A study on the economic impact of building six new inner-city turnpikes has fleshed out the reality of the income gap between the rich and the poor.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government is setting aside at least Rp 3 trillion (some US$300 million) in funds from this year's state budget to help kick off financing for infrastructure

Jakarta – Her chores are done and Tina is waiting for her husband to come home to their makeshift shack under Matraman overpass in Central Jakarta. She is not alone.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The many poverty reduction programs the government implemented in 2005 took only a million people out of absolute poverty, a survey reveals.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Papua's first directly elected governor has warned Indonesia must deliver "justice, equality and prosperity" or face the prospect of more violence and an exodus o

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Hiding in a tattered hut in West Papua's dense jungle and existing on food brought by sympathetic villagers, university student Everistus Kayep is confused by the

Rusman, Samarinda – It was 4:30 in the morning and the sun was not yet shining, but 13-year-old Rizki Gunawan and his little sister Astari had to leave the warmth of their beds and head

Jakarta – The government has called on local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to obey the laws governing the establishment of such groups, and has asked foreign NGOs to obtain offi

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has met with survivors on the earthquake devastated island of Nias in western Sumatra and has urged residents to be patient.

Jakarta – Prior to its fuel price hike plan in April, which will eventually reduce budget expenditures for the fuel subsidy, the government has been preparing an additional Rp 10.5 tril

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The public debate continues on how Indonesia should respond to the debt moratorium offer from the Paris Club creditor countries, as the offer itself is still vag

Yogyakarta – Twenty-one percent out of a total of 2.5 million people in Yogyakarta are effectively unemployed, the province's Manpower and Transmigration Office says.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – After 59 years of independence, poverty remains a major problem in 190 regencies in the country, a minister says.